The Section d'Or ("Golden Section"), also known as Groupe de Puteaux or Puteaux Group, was a collective of

painters Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, sculptors, poets and critics associated with

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

and Orphism. Based in the Parisian suburbs, the group held regular meetings at the home of the Duchamp brothers in

Puteaux Puteaux () is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located in the heart of the Hauts-de-Seine department, from the centre of Paris. In 2016, it had a population of 44,941. La Défense, Paris's business district hosting the ...

and at the studio of

Albert Gleizes Albert Gleizes (; 8 December 1881 – 23 June 1953) was a French artist, theoretician, philosopher, a self-proclaimed founder of Cubism and an influence on the School of Paris. Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger wrote the first major treatise on ...

Courbevoie Courbevoie () is a commune located in the Hauts-de-Seine Department of the Île-de-France region of France. It is in the suburbs of the city of Paris, from the center of Paris. The centre of Courbevoie is situated from the city limits of Par ...

. Active from 1911 to around 1914, members of the collective came to prominence in the wake of their controversial showing at the

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

in the spring of 1911. This showing by

Jean Metzinger Jean Dominique Antony Metzinger (; 24 June 1883 – 3 November 1956) was a major 20th-century French painter, theorist, writer, critic and poet, who along with Albert Gleizes wrote the first theoretical work on Cubism. His earliest works, from 1 ...

Robert Delaunay Robert Delaunay (12 April 1885 – 25 October 1941) was a French artist who, with his wife Sonia Delaunay and others, co-founded the Orphism art movement, noted for its use of strong colours and geometric shapes. His later works were more abstra ...

Henri le Fauconnier Henri Victor Gabriel Le Fauconnier (July 5, 1881 – December 25, 1946) was a French Cubist painter born in Hesdin. Le Fauconnier was seen as one of the leading figures among the Montparnasse Cubists. At the 1911 Salon des Indépendants Le Fauco ...

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

and

Marie Laurencin Marie Laurencin (31 October 1883 – 8 June 1956) was a French painter and printmaker. She became an important figure in the Parisian Avant-garde#:~:text=The avant-garde (/ˌ,art, culture, or society., avant-garde as a member of the Cubism, Cubist ...

(at the request of

Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

), created a scandal that brought Cubism to the attention of the general public for the first time. The Salon de la Section d'Or, held October 1912—the largest and most important public showing of Cubist works prior to World War I—exposed Cubism to a wider audience still. After the war, with support given by the dealer

Léonce Rosenberg Léonce Rosenberg (12 September 1879 in Paris – 31 July 1947 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was an art collector, writer, publisher, and one of the most influential French art dealers of the 20th century. His greatest impact was as a supporter and promote ...

, Cubism returned to the front line of Parisian artistic activity. Various elements of the Groupe de Puteaux would mount two more large-scale Section d'Or exhibitions, in 1920 and in 1925, with the goal of revealing the complete process of transformation and renewal that had transpired since the onset of Cubism. The group seems to have adopted the name "Section d'Or" as both an homage to the mathematical harmony associated with

Georges Seurat Georges Pierre Seurat ( , , ; 2 December 1859 – 29 March 1891) was a French post-Impressionist artist. He devised the painting techniques known as chromoluminarism and pointillism and used conté crayon for drawings on paper with a rough su ...

, and to distinguish themselves from the narrower style of Cubism developed in parallel by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

and

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

in the

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

quarter of Paris. In addition, the name was to highlight that Cubism, rather than being an isolated art-form, represented the continuation of a grand tradition; indeed, the

golden ratio In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b > 0, where the Greek letter phi ( ...

, or golden section (french: Section d'Or), had fascinated Western intellectuals of diverse interests for at least 2,400 years.

History

The Puteaux Group (an offshoot of ''la

Société Normande de Peinture Moderne The Société Normande de Peinture Moderne, also known as ''Société de Peinture Moderne'', or alternatively, ''Normand Society of Modern Painting'', was a collective of eminent painters, sculptors, poets, musicians and critics associated with P ...

'') organized their first exhibition under the name ''Salon de la Section d'Or'' at the ''Galerie La Boétie'' in Paris, October 1912.

and

, in preparation for the Salon de la Section d'Or, published a major defense of Cubism, resulting in the first theoretical essay on the new movement, entitled ''

Du "Cubisme" ''Du "Cubisme"'', also written ''Du Cubisme'', or ''Du « Cubisme »'' (and in English, ''On Cubism'' or ''Cubism''), is a book written in 1912 by Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger. This was the first major text on Cubism, predating ''The Cubist P ...

'' (published by Eugène Figuière in 1912, translated to English and Russian in 1913).From ''Du Cubisme'', Paris, 1912, pp. 9-11, 13-14, 17-21, 25-32. In English in Robert L. Herbert, ''Modern Artists on Art'', Englewood Cliffs, 1964, PDF
Art Humanities Primary Source Reading 46 Following the 1911 Salon exhibitions, the group formed by Le Fauconnier, Metzinger, Gleizes, Léger and R. Delaunay expanded to include several other artists;

Alexander Archipenko Alexander Porfyrovych Archipenko (also referred to as Olexandr, Oleksandr, or Aleksandr; uk, Олександр Порфирович Архипенко, Romanized: Olexandr Porfyrovych Arkhypenko; February 25, 1964) was a Ukrainian and American ...

Joseph Csaky Joseph Csaky (also written Josef Csàky, Csáky József, József Csáky and Joseph Alexandre Czaky) (18 March 1888 – 1 May 1971) was a Hungarian avant-garde artist, sculptor, and graphic artist, best known for his early participation in the ...

Roger de La Fresnaye Roger de La Fresnaye (; 11 July 1885 – 27 November 1925) was a French Cubist painter. Early years and education La Fresnaye was born in Le Mans where his father, an officer in the French army, was temporarily stationed. The La Fresnayes were ...

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...

, and

Jean Marchand Jean Marchand, (December 20, 1918 – August 28, 1988) was a French Canadian public figure, trade unionist and politician in Quebec, Canada. Life and career During the 1949 Asbestos Strike in Quebec, Marchand led the striking workers as ...

, who were virtually unknown to the public before the Salon des Indépendants of 1911, began to frequent Puteaux and Courbevoie.

František Kupka František Kupka (23 September 1871 – 24 June 1957), also known as ''Frank Kupka'' or ''François Kupka,'' was a Czech painter and graphic artist. He was a pioneer and co-founder of the early phases of the abstract art movement and Orphic C ...

had lived in Puteaux for several years in the same complex as Jacques Villon.

Francis Picabia Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism ...

was introduced to the circle, perhaps by

Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent. Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of the ...

(usually accompanied by

) with whom he had recently become friendly. Most importantly was the contact established with Metzinger and the Duchamp brothers, who exhibited under the names of Jacques Villon, Marcel Duchamp and Duchamp-Villon. The opening address was given by Apollinaire. The participation of many of these artists in the formation of ''Les Artistes de Passy'' in October 1912 was an attempt to transform the Passy district of Paris into yet another art-centre; a further sign of a growing emphasis on communal activity that would culminate in the Section d'Or exhibit.The History and Chronology of Cubism, p. 5
/ref>

Origins of the term

The idea of the Section d'Or originated in the course of conversations between Gleizes, Metzinger and Jacques Villon. The group's title was suggested by Villon, after reading a 1910 translation of

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

's ''

A Treatise on Painting ''A Treatise on Painting'' (''Trattato della pittura'') is a collection of Leonardo da Vinci's writings entered in his notebooks under the general heading "On Painting". The manuscripts were begun in Milan while Leonardo was under the service of ...

'' by

Joséphin Péladan Joséphin Péladan (28 March 1858 in Lyon – 27 June 1918 in Neuilly-sur-Seine) was a French novelist and Martinist. His father was a journalist who had written on prophecies, and professed a philosophic-occult Catholicism. He established the ...

. Péladan attached great

mystical Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

significance to the

golden section In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger of the two quantities. Expressed algebraically, for quantities a and b with a > b > 0, where the Greek letter phi ( ...

(french: nombre d'or), and other similar geometric configurations. For Villon, this symbolized his belief in order and the significance of

mathematical Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

proportions, because it reflected patterns and relationships occurring in nature. Jean Metzinger and the Duchamp brothers were passionately interested in mathematics. Jean Metzinger, Juan Gris and possibly Marcel Duchamp at this time were associates of

Maurice Princet Maurice Princet (1875 – October 23, 1973) was a French mathematician and actuary who played a role in the birth of cubism. He was an associate of Pablo Picasso, Guillaume Apollinaire Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 A ...

, an amateur mathematician credited for introducing profound and rational scientific arguments into Cubist discussions. The name 'Section d'Or' represented simultaneously a continuity with past traditions and current trends in related fields, while leaving open future developments in the arts. Art historian Daniel Robbins argued that in addition to referencing the mathematical ''golden section'', the term associated with the Salon Cubists also refers to the name of the earlier ''Bandeaux d'Or'' group, with which

and other former members of the

Abbaye de Créteil L'Abbaye de Créteil or Abbaye group (french: Le Groupe de l'Abbaye) was a utopian artistic and literary community founded during the month of October, 1906. It was named after the Créteil Abbey, as most gatherings took place in that suburb of P ...

had been deeply involved.Roger Allard, ''Sur quelques peintre'', Les Marches du Sud-Ouest, June 1911, pp. 57-64. In Mark Antliff and Patricia Leighten, ''A Cubism Reader, Documents and Criticism, 1906-1914'', The University of Chicago Press, 2008, pp. 178-191, 330

Salon de la Section d'Or, 1912

La Section d'Or, numero special, 9 Octobre 1912

The 1912 Salon de la Section d'Or was arguably the most important pre-World War I Cubist exhibition. In the previous year the Cubists and a large number of their associates had exhibited at the ''Galerie de l'Art Contemporain'' (rue Tronchet, Paris) under the auspices of the ''

''. This exhibition had received some attention in the press (''l'Autorité'' and ''Paris Journal''), though due to the diversity of the works presented it had been referred to as an ''exposition des fauves et cubistes''. The ''Salon de la Section d'Or'', however, was generally accepted as being entirely Cubist in nature. Over 200 works were displayed, and the fact that many of the artists showed artworks representative of their development from 1909 to 1912 gave the exhibition the allure of a Cubist retrospective. Though the ''Salle 41'' Cubists had been surprised by the highly impassioned reactions generated by the 1911 Salon des Indépendants showing, they appear to have been eager to attract as much attention as possible with the ''Salon de la Section d'Or''. The inauguration was held from nine until midnight, for which the only precedent was the opening of the 1903 ''Salon d'Automne''. Invitations were widely diffused prior to the show, and many of the guests had to be turned away on opening night (9 October 1912). Lectures by Apollinaire, Hourcade and Raynal were advertised, and a review, ''La Section d'Or'', was published to coincide with the ''Vernissage''; with contributions by

, Roger Allard, René Blum, Olivier Hourcade,

Max Jacob Max Jacob (; 12 July 1876 – 5 March 1944) was a French poet, painter, writer, and critic. Life and career After spending his childhood in Quimper, Brittany, he enrolled in the Paris Colonial School, which he left in 1897 for an artistic ca ...

Maurice Raynal Portrait of Maurice Raynal (1911), by Juan Gris. Maurice Raynal (3 February 1884, Paris – 18 September 1954, Suresnes) was a French art critic and an ardent propagandist of cubism. Some publications *''Essai de Définition de la Peinture C ...

Pierre Reverdy Pierre Reverdy (; 13 September 1889 – 17 June 1960) was a French poet whose works were inspired by and subsequently proceeded to influence the provocative art movements of the day, Surrealism, Dadaism and Cubism. The loneliness and spiritual a ...

André Salmon André Salmon (4 October 1881, Paris – 12 March 1969, Sanary-sur-Mer) was a French poet, art critic and writer. He was one of the early defenders of Cubism, with Guillaume Apollinaire and Maurice Raynal. Biography André Salmon was born in P ...

, André Warnod and others.La Section d'Or, Numéro spécial, 9 Octobre 1912
/ref> The fact that the 1912 exhibition had been curated to show the successive stages through which Cubism had transited, and that

had been published for the occasion, indicates the artists' intention of making their work comprehensible to a wide audience (art critics, art collectors, art dealers and the general public). Undoubtedly, due to the great success of the exhibition, Cubism became recognized as a tendency, genre or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal: a new avant-garde movement.

Selected works; 1912 exhibition

File:Juan Gris - Man in a Café.jpg,

, 1912, ''Man in a Café'', oil on canvas, 127.6 x 88.3 cm,

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

. Exhibited at the 1912 ''Salon de la Section d'Or'' File:Albert Gleizes, 1910, L'Arbre (The Tree), oil on canvas, 92 x 73.2 cm, private collection.jpg,

, 1910, '' L'Arbre (The Tree)'', oil on canvas, 92 x 73.2 cm, private collection File:Albert Gleizes, 1910, Femme aux Phlox, oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm, exhibited Armory Show, New York, 1913, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston..jpg,

, 1910, '' La Femme aux Phlox (Woman with Phlox)'', oil on canvas, 81 x 100 cm,

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Build ...

File:Marcel Duchamp, 1910, Joueur d'échecs (The Chess Game), oil on canvas, 114 x 146.5 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg,

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

, 1910, ''Joueur d'échecs'' (''The Chess Game''), oil on canvas, 114 x 146.5 cm,

File:Jean Metzinger, 1910-11, Deux Nus (Two Nudes, Two Women), oil on canvas, 92 x 66 cm, Gothenburg Museum of Art, Sweden.jpg,

, 1910–11, '' Deux Nus (Two Nudes, Two Women, Nus dans un paysage)'', oil on canvas, 92 x 66 cm,

Gothenburg Museum of Art Gothenburg Museum of Art ( sv, Göteborgs konstmuseum) is located at Götaplatsen in Gothenburg, Sweden. It claims to be the third largest art museum in Sweden by size of its collection. Collections The museum holds the world's finest collect ...

, Sweden File:Albert Gleizes, 1911, Portrait de Jacques Nayral, oil on canvas, 161.9 x 114 cm, Tate Modern, London.jpg,

, 1911, '' Portrait de Jacques Nayral'', oil on canvas, 161.9 x 114 cm, Tate Modern, London File:Recoveredgleizes.jpg,

, 1911, '' Le Chemin, Paysage à Meudon, Paysage avec personnage'', oil on canvas, 146.4 x 114.4 cm File:Albert Gleizes, 1912, Les ponts de Paris (Passy), The Bridges of Paris, oil on canvas, 60.5 x 73.2 cm, Museum Moderner Kunst (mumok), Vienna..jpg,

, 1912, '' Les ponts de Paris (Passy), The Bridges of Paris (Passy)'', oil on canvas, 60.5 x 73.2 cm, Museum Moderner Kunst ( mumok), Vienna File:Marcel Duchamp, 1912, Le Roi et la Reine entourés de Nus vites (The King and Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes), oil on canvas, 114.6 x 128.9 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg,

, 1912, ''Le Roi et la Reine entourés de Nus vites'' (''The King and Queen Surrounded by Swift Nudes''), oil on canvas, 114.6 x 128.9 cm,

File:Pierre Dumont, Cathédrale de Rouen (Rouen Cathedral), c.1912, oil on canvas, 192.4 x 138.7 cm, Milwaukee Art Museum.jpg, Pierre Dumont, c.1912, ''Cathédrale de Rouen (Rouen Cathedral)'', oil on canvas, 192.4 x 138.7 cm,

Milwaukee Art Museum The Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) is an art museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its collection contains nearly 25,000 works of art. Location and Visit Located on the lakefront of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee Art Museum is one of the largest art museu ...

File:Tobeen, 1912, Pelotaris, oil on canvas, 147.5 x 115.5 cm.jpg,

Tobeen Tobeen (Bordeaux, July 20, 1880 - Saint-Valery-sur-Somme, March 1938) is the pseudonym of the French artist Félix Bonnet. Life Tobeen stayed frequently in the western part of thé Pyrenees, Basque Country, but was born and bred in Bordeaux. B ...

, 1912, ''Pelotaris'', oil on canvas, 147.5 x 115.5 cm File:Francis Picabia, 1912, The Procession, Seville, oil on canvas, 121.9 x 121.9 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.jpg,

, 1912, ''The Procession, Seville'', oil on canvas, 121.9 x 121.9 cm,

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of char ...

, Washington DC. File:Francis Picabia, The Dance at the Spring, 1912, oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art.jpg, Francis Picabia, 1912, ''The Dance at the Spring'' (''Danse à la source''), oil on canvas, 120.5 x 120.6 cm,

File:Jacques Villon, 1912, Girl at the Piano, oil on canvas, 129.2 x 96.4 cm, Museum of Modern Art, New York...jpg,

Jacques Villon Jacques Villon (July 31, 1875 – June 9, 1963), also known as Gaston Duchamp, was a French Cubist and abstract painter and printmaker. Early life Born Émile Méry Frédéric Gaston Duchamp in Damville, Eure, in Normandy, France, he came ...

, 1912, ''Girl at the Piano (Fillette au piano)'', oil on canvas, 129.2 x 96.4 cm (51 x 37.8 in), oval,

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

, New York

Golden ratio

There is some debate on the extent to which works exhibited at the 1912 Salon de la Section d'Or employed the

, or not. Despite a general interest in mathematical harmony, whether the paintings featured in the celebrated ''Salon de la Section d'Or'' exhibition used the golden ratio itself in their compositions is difficult to determine.William A. Camfield, ''Juan Gris and the Golden Section''
Art Bulletin, 47, no. 1, March 1965, 128-34. 68 Analysis by Christopher Green suggests that Juan Gris made use of the golden ratio in composing works that were likely shown at the exhibition.Christopher Green
''Juan Gris''
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, 18 September - 29 November 1992;

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart The Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (, "State Gallery") is an art museum in Stuttgart, Germany, it opened in 1843. In 1984, the opening of the Neue Staatsgalerie (''New State Gallery'') designed by James Stirling transformed the once provincial gallery ...

18 December 1992-14 February 1993; Rijksmuseum Kröller-Müller, Otterlo, 6 March - 2 May 1993, Yale University Press, 1992, pp. 37-38, David Cottington, ''Cubism and Its Histories, Barber Institute's critical perspectives in art history series, Critical Perspectives in Art History''
Manchester University Press, 2004, pp. 112, 142, Art historian David Cottington writes:

It will be remembered that ''Du "Cubisme"'', written probably as these paintings were being made, gestured somewhat obscurely to non-Euclidean concepts, and Riemann's theorems; as Linda Henderson has shown, these references betray not an informed understanding of modern mathematics but a shaky hold on some of their principles, culled (indeed plagiarised) from Henri Poincaré's ''La Science et l'Hypothèse.'' The authors themselves had little clear idea of how such mathematics related to their art, except as a vague synecdoche for "modern science".

Camfield writes that the use of the golden section at ''La Section d'Or'' is rather tentative:

A few of these paintings were moreover based on simple geometrical compositions. Yet, not a single artist there displayed a serious commitment to geometrical proportions with the one exception of Juan Gris. ..Although all of the Puteaux artists were interested in mathematics (Marcel Duchamp, interview with the author, April 4, 1961), neither Marcel Duchamp nor Jacques Villon, who suggested the title for "La Section d'Or" believes that the golden section was actually used in their paintings. And in ''
Du "Cubisme" ''Du "Cubisme"'', also written ''Du Cubisme'', or ''Du « Cubisme »'' (and in English, ''On Cubism'' or ''Cubism''), is a book written in 1912 by Albert Gleizes and Jean Metzinger. This was the first major text on Cubism, predating ''The Cubist P ...
'' Gleizes and Metzinger chastise those painters who would rely on mathematics for certitude.

Camfield says that neither of the paintings he analyses "can be definitively identified with "La Section d'Or" paintings", only that the "stylistic evidence" places them in that period and they "would almost certainly have been shown" there. From the titles, dates and previous exhibitions listed in the 1912 ''Salon de la Section d'Or'' catalogue, many painting have since been identified, for example, '' Les Baigneuses (The Bathers)'' and ''

Le goûter (Tea Time) ''Le Goûter'', also known as ''Tea Time'' (''Tea-Time''), and ''Femme à la Cuillère'' (''Woman with a teaspoon'') is an oil painting created in 1911 by the French artist and theorist Jean Metzinger (1883–1956). It was exhibited in Paris at ...

'', '' La Femme au Cheval (Woman with a horse)'', and many more works by Gleizes, Metzinger and others. The main exception is for the works of Juan Gris, since no titles are given for his submissions in the catalogue. However, it is now known, from published correspondence between the artist and the dealer

that 13 paintings by Gris were shown, most of which have been identified by their titles, dates, and dimensions. Albert Gleizes exhibited '' Les Baigneuses (The Bathers)'' at the 1912 Salon de la Section d'Or (catalogue no. 40). The proportions of the canvas correspond exactly to the

golden rectangle In geometry, a golden rectangle is a rectangle whose side lengths are in the golden ratio, 1 : \tfrac, which is 1:\varphi (the Greek letter phi), where \varphi is approximately 1.618. Golden rectangles exhibit a special form of self-similarity ...

(a ratio of 1 to 1.618 ± 0.01). This work has a rare dimension of 105 x 171 cm. Gleizes, as most artists at the time, generally used standard format chassis (stretchers), which are ''not'' golden rectangles. In ''

'' it was argued that Cubism itself was not based on any geometrical theory, but that non-Euclidean geometry corresponded better than classical, or Euclidean geometry, to what the Cubists were doing: "If we wished to relate the space of the ubistpainters to geometry, we should have to refer it to the non-Euclidean mathematicians; we should have to study, at some length, certain of Riemann's theorems." The 1912 compositions of Juan gris, according to art historian Christopher Green, were often "modular and regular... easily fitted to the demands of Golden Section composing in the pictures of the summer, such as ''Man in a Café'' and ''The Watch.''" The "synthetic and analytic were visibly fused. In the Golden Section paintings... he laid the grids like systems of fault-lines across things, faut-lines on either side of which view-points switch. File:Albert Gleizes, 1912, Les Baigneuses (The Bathers), oil on canvas, 105 x 171 cm, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, golden rectangle and Fibonacci spiral.jpg,

, 1912, '' Les Baigneuses (The Bathers)'', oil on canvas, 105 x 171 cm, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris,

(painting, 1 to 1.618 ± 0.07), golden ratio grid (golden/yellow grid, so1 - so4), and 4 : 6 ratio grid overlay File:Juan Gris, 1912, Still Life with Flowers, oil on canvas, 112.1 x 70.2 cm, Museum of Modern Art.jpg,

, 1912, ''Still Life with Flowers'', oil on canvas, 112.1 x 70.2 cm,

, New York. Precisely a golden rectangle format with a ratio of 1 to 1.618 ± 0.01 File:Georges Seurat, Parade de cirque, with golden mean overlay.jpg,

, 1887–88, '' Circus Sideshow (Parade de Cirque)'', oil on canvas, 99.7 × 140.9 cm,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

. Golden mean overlay (section d'or, so1 - so4) and 4 : 6 ratio grid

Homage to Seurat

The ''Section d'Or'' group founded by some of the most prominent Cubists was in effect an homage to

. Within the works by Seurat—of cafés, cabarets and concerts, of which the avant-garde were fond—the Cubists' rediscovered an underlying mathematical harmony: one that could easily be transformed into mobile, dynamical configurations.Robert Herbert, Neo-Impressionism, New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1968 Whereas Cézanne had been influential to the development of Cubism between 1908 and 1911, during its most expressionistic phase, the work of Seurat would attract attention from the Cubists and Futurists between 1911 and 1914, when flatter geometric structures were being produced. What the Cubists found attractive, according to Apollinaire, was the manner in which Seurat asserted an absolute "scientific clarity of conception." The Cubists observed in his mathematical harmonies, geometric structuring of motion and form, the primacy of ''idea'' over ''nature'' (something the Symbolists had recognized). In their eyes, Seurat had "taken a fundamental step toward Cubism by restoring intellect and order to art, after

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...

had denied them" (Robert Herbert, 1968). The golden section does not govern

's '' Parade de Cirque (Circus Sideshow)'' geometric structure. Modern consensus is that Seurat never used the 'divine proportion'. ''Parade'' is divided horizontally into fourths and vertically into sixths. The 4 : 6 ratio corresponds to the dimensions of the canvas (one-half times wider than its vertical dimension). The ratio of Seurat's painting/stretcher corresponded to a ratio of 1 to 1.502, ± 0.002 (as opposed to the golden ratio of 1 to 1.618). The compositional axes in the painting correspond to basic mathematical divisions (simple ratios that appear to approximate the golden section).Robert L. Herbert, ''Georges Seurat, 1859-1891'', The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1991
pp. 340-345, archive.org (full text online)

Section d'Or, 1920, 1925

After World War I, with the support given by the dealer

, Cubism returned as a central issue for artists. With the Salons dominated by a return to classicism, Albert Gleizes attempted to resuscitate the spirit of the Section d'Or in 1920 but was met with great difficulty, despite support by

Constantin Brâncuși Constantin Brâncuși (; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian Sculpture, sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of ...

Henri Laurens Henri Laurens (February 18, 1885 – May 5, 1954) was a French sculptor and illustrator. Early life and education Born in Paris, Henri Laurens worked as a stonemason before he became a sculptor. From 1899 to 1902, he attended drawing class ...

Raymond Duchamp-Villon Raymond Duchamp-Villon (5 November 1876 – 9 October 1918) was a French sculptor. Life and art Duchamp-Villon was born Pierre-Maurice-Raymond Duchamp in Damville, Eure, in the Normandy region of France, the second son of Eugène and Lucie Duch ...

Louis Marcoussis Louis Marcoussis, formerly Ludwik Kazimierz Wladyslaw Markus or Ludwig Casimir Ladislas Markus, (1878 or 1883, Łódź – October 22, 1941, Cusset) was a painter and engraver of Polish origin who lived in Paris for much of his life and became ...

and

Léopold Survage Léopold Frédéric Léopoldowitsch Survage (31 July 1879 – 31 October 1968) was a French painter of Finnish origin. Trained in Moscow, he identified with the Russian avant-garde before moving to Paris, where he shared a studio with Amedeo Mod ...

. Gleizes' organizational efforts were directed towards the re-establishment of a European-wide movement of Cubist and

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

in the form of a large traveling exhibition; the ''Exposition de la Section d’Or''. The idea was to bring together a collection of works that revealed the complete process of transformation and renewal that had taken place. It was not the success he had hoped for. Cubism was seen as passé for emerging artists and other established artists such as Marcel Duchamp and Picabia, although Gleizes, on the contrary, felt that only its preliminary phase had been investigated. In addition to Cubists works (which already represented a wide variety of styles), the second edition of the Section d'Or held at the Galerie La Boétie from 5 March 1920 included

De Stijl ''De Stijl'' (; ), Dutch for "The Style", also known as Neoplasticism, was a Dutch art movement founded in 1917 in Leiden. De Stijl consisted of artists and architects. In a more narrow sense, the term ''De Stijl'' is used to refer to a body o ...

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...

Constructivism Constructivism may refer to: Art and architecture * Constructivism (art), an early 20th-century artistic movement that extols art as a practice for social purposes * Constructivist architecture, an architectural movement in Russia in the 1920s a ...

and

Futurism Futurism ( it, Futurismo, link=no) was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy, and to a lesser extent in other countries, in the early 20th century. It emphasized dynamism, speed, technology, youth, violence, and objects such ...

. It was the revival of the Section d'Or which ensured that Cubism in general would become

Dada Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...

's preferred target. The new polemic resulted in the publication of ''Du cubisme et des moyens de le comprendre'' by Albert Gleizes, followed in 1922 by '' La Peinture et ses lois''.Fondation Gleizes, Chronologie (French)

Notable members

Hélène Oettingen Helen Oettingen (1887, Ukraine or Venice - 1950, Paris) was a French painter and writer. She is also known as a poet under the pseudonym Leonardo Pieu, as a novelist under the pseudonym Roch Grey, and as a painter under the pseudonym François An ...

(François Angiboult), 1887–1950, French *

, 1887–1964, Russian-Ukrainian *

, 1876–1957, Romanian *

, 1888–1971, Hungarian, naturalized French *

Alexandra Exter Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "pro ...

, 1882–1949, Russian-French *

, 1885–1941, French *

Marthe Donas Marthe Donas (26 October 1885 – 31 January 1967) was a Belgian Abstract art, abstract and Cubism, cubist painter and is recognized as one of the leading figures of Modernism. Donas worked under the Androgyny, androgynous pseudonyms Tour d'Onask ...

, 1885–1967, Belgian *

, 1887–1968, French *

, 1876–1918, French * Pierre Dumont, 1884–1936, French *

, 1882-1949, Russian-French *

, 1881–1946, French *

, 1885–1925, French *

, 1881–1953, French *

Natalia Goncharova Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova (russian: Ната́лья Серге́евна Гончаро́ва, p=nɐˈtalʲjə sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvnə ɡənʲtɕɪˈrovə; 3 July 188117 October 1962) was a Russian avant-garde artist, painter, costume designe ...

, 1881–1962, Russian *

, 1887–1927, Spanish *

, 1871–1957, Czech * Jean Lambert-Rucki, 1888–1967, Polish *

, 1883–1956, French *

, 1881–1955, French *

André Lhote André Lhote (5 July 1885 – 24 January 1962) was a French Cubist painter of figure subjects, portraits, landscapes and still life. He was also active and influential as a teacher and writer on art. Early life and education Lhote was born ...

, 1885–1962, French *

, 1883–1940, French *

, 1878–1941, Polish *

André Mare Charles André Mare (1885–1932), or André-Charles Mare, was a French painter and textile designer, and co-founder of the Company of French Art (''la Compagnie des Arts Français'') in 1919. He was a designer of colorful textiles, and was one o ...

, 1885–1932, French *

, 1883–1956, French *

, 1879–1953, French/Spanish * (Rena Hassenberg), 1884–1953, French, Polish *

Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes Georges Ribemont-Dessaignes (June 19, 1884 – July 9, 1974) was a French writer and artist associated with the Dada movement. He was born in Montpellier and died in Saint-Jeannet. In addition to numerous early paintings, Ribemont-Dessaignes wro ...

, 1884–1974, French *

Jeanne Rij-Rousseau Jeanne Rij-Rousseau (June 10, 1870 – October 22, 1956) was a French Cubist painter and an art theoretician. Her estate has been scattered throughout the world. Paintings are trafficked in N.Y., Chicago, London, and Paris. Some works are in Par ...

, 1870–1956, French *

André Dunoyer de Segonzac André Dunoyer de Segonzac (6 July 1884 – 17 September 1974) was a French painter and graphic artist. Biography Segonzac was born in Boussy-Saint-Antoine and spent his childhood there and in Paris. His parents wanted him to attend the military ...

, 1884–1974, French *, 1881–1948, French *

, 1880–1938, French *, 1883–1960, French *

, 1875–1963, French

Collaborators

, 1880–1918, French, Italian, Polish *, 1885–1961, French *

Gabrièle Buffet-Picabia Gabrièle Buffet-Picabia (often spelled Gabrielle Buffet-Picabia; Buffet; 21 November 1881 – 7 December 1985) was a French art critic and writer affiliated with Dadaism. She was an organiser of the French resistance and the first wife of arti ...

, 1881–1985, French *

René Blum (ballet) René Blum may refer to: * René Blum (impresario) René Blum (13 March 1878 – September 1942) was a French theatrical impresario. He was the founder of the Ballet de l'Opéra at Monte Carlo and was the younger brother of the Socialist Prime ...

, 1878–1942, French * Adolphe Basler, 1878–1949, French *Marc Brésil, French *Max Goth (Maximilien Gauthier), 1893–1977, French *Olivier Hourcade, French *

, 1876–1944, French *Pierre Müller, 1884–1914, French *Jacques Nayral (Joseph Houot), ? 1914, French *

, 1875–1973, French *

, 1884–1954, French *

Paul-Napoléon Roinard Paul-Napoléon Roinard (4 February 1856 – 26 October 1930) was a French anarchist poet. Works * ''Nos plaies'', poésies, cover drawn by the author, Paris, Soc. typographique, 1886, in-18 ; * ''Chanson d’Amour'', poetry, music by Louis Hes ...

, 1856–1930, French *

, 1889–1960, French *

, 1881–1969, French *, 1881-1977 *, 1885–1960, French *, 1876–1947, French

References

External links

Exhibit catalog for Salon de "La Section d'Or", 1912. Walter Pach papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution

Exposition de la Section d’Or à la galerie La Boétie (Paris) et parution du traité Du Cubisme de Gleizes et Metzinger, 1912, Archives de France

La Section d'Or, numero special, 9 Octobre 1912, full document, Bibliothèque Kandinsky, Centre Pompidou
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